Former chairperson of the Hong Kong Computer Chamber of Commerce: High costs have caused international virtual asset service platforms to withdraw their license applications

The licensing transition period for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in Hong Kong will end at the end of this month. The Securities Supervision Commission will decide whether the existing service providers can continue to operate after June. Recently, a number of platforms have withdrawn their applications for licenses in Hong Kong. Hui Jiansheng, former chairperson of the Hong Kong Computer Association, believes that the cost of operating trading platforms in Hong Kong is higher, such as license fees, hiring responsible personnel, etc., the existing platform transactions in Hong Kong have not increased significantly, the liquidity is not as good as that of overseas platforms, and it cannot attract overseas customers. In addition, the market may not be able to accommodate many license applicants. Large international platforms have mature overseas business or withdraw applications due to profitability problems in the local market.